Cotton opener or lapper



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. P. FAULKNER.

COTTON OPENER 0R LAPPER. No. 258,397. Patented May 23, 1882.

ltmliiiii 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 (No Model-) W. P. FAULKNER.

COTTON OPENER 0R LAPPBR.

Patented May 23, 1882.

N. PETERS. PhowLimu m xm Washinglnn. n. c

" NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM P. FAULKNEB, OF MOMINNVILLE, TENNESSEE.

COTTON OPENER OR LAPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 258,397, dated May 23, 1882.

Application filed February 24, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,WILLIAM P. FAULKNER, of McMinnville, in county of Warren and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cotton Openers or Lappers, of which the following is a clear, full, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is perspective view of a lap-machine with my improvements attached. Fig. 2 is a longitudinalvertical section of the same. Fig. 3 shows the construction of the wood card-clothing. Fig. 4 shows the form of my grate-bars.

My invention relates to cotton openers or lappers for preparing cotton for carding-engines, and more particularly to that class of openers and lappers employing fans for suction or air-blasts to carry the cotton to the dustcages or'screen-cylinders and it consists in the combination of devices hereinafter described and claimed.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the exact manner in which I have carried it out.

In the drawings, A represents the usual inclosing case of a cotton opener or lapper, and B represents a cylinder, usually from twelve to eighteen inches in diameter and from thirty to l'ortyinches long, made of cast-iron or other suitable material, which I envelop in wood card-clothing 0 set with the needle-pointed steel wires D, with about twenty to thirty-six points to the square inch, instead of employing the ordinary flails or heaters now in use. This wooden card-clothin g G is fastened on the cylinder securely by means of screws or other well-known means. The teeth D of the cards are set in the wood in the line of rotation.

E represents a tight chamber or box underneath the cylinder B and extending from the base of the machine or floor up to the gratebars or knives a. The purpose of this tight box or chamber E is to catch all light impurities orforeign substancessuch as the particles of cotton-leaf, dirt, and sand-falling of their own gravity into the chamber and to prevent their being interfered with and taken back into the cotton after having been once separated from it by centrifugal force while the cotton is being operated upon.

F is an open space between the feed-rollers ff and the grate-bars a a, through which it has been the custom tolet theair-currentflow to supply the suction-fan H, thereby producing a current of air exactly where there should be none, for such a current entering at the point F would not allow the disengaged motes, impurities, and foreign substances before referred to to fall of their own weight into the chamber E. To overcome this difficulty I form an adjustable opening, G, in rear of the cylinder B, and to the rear of the grate-bars, through which air is supplied to the suction-fan, so as to strip or disengage the cotton from the teeth of the cards on cylinder B and carry it to the dust-cages or screen-cylinders J J. This opening serves a twofold purpose in my invention: First, it supplies the suction-fan with the necessary amount of air-current to bring the open cotton from the cylinder B to the dust-cages to form a sheet or lap; and, secondly, it prevents any air-current between the feed-rollers and the grate-bars a a, so that all light impurities, as before mentioned, are forced to fall by their own gravity into the chamber E when they are disengaged from the cotton. The opening G into trunk A is provided with a hinged plate or wing, 71,, for the purpose of regulating or adjusting the amount of airpassage.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The frame A, cylinder B, having needlepointed wires D, and concave knife-edged gratebars a a, in combination with the trunk A, provided with the opening G, the hinged plate o h, chamber E, and fan H, all constructed to operate substantially as set forth.

WILLIAH PRESTON FAULKNER.

Witnesses:

GEo. F. PENNEBAKER, ROBT. A. THATCH- 

